The Venture Bros.: Radiant Is the Blood of the Baboon Heart (2023)

Just as was the case between seasons when the show was airing, it took so long for this movie to come out that I've pretty much forgotten everything that was going on. But, just like in times past, it doesn't really matter -- it's still gonna be a good time.

My biggest complaint? Not enough Brock.

B-

The Boy and the Heron (2023)

Mahito moves to his mother's ancestral home after she dies and his father marries her younger sister. On the estate, Mahito is harrassed by a persistent gray heron. When his pregnant stepmother goes on a walk and doesn't return, he is lured to a mystical tower by the heron and enters into a dreamlike world in his pursuit of rescuing her.

It's a nightmarish mess of a story and the heron morphs into a scary trollish man wearing a heron costume. I rarely understood what was supposed to be happening. Beautiful animation, but who cares when it's put to use for such a nonsensical tale?

C-

Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl (2024)

Wallace has invented a robotic garden gnome (Norbot) to help with gardening and other household tasks. Gromit is skeptical, but everyone in town wants to hire Norbot. Once the nefarious Feathers McGraw (incarcerated at the zoo) gets wind of the new invention, he makes it his job to use it to his advantage.

Fun, but almost too familiar at this point.

B-

Flow (2024)

When a flood completely overtakes the landscape and structures of their city, a black cat and several other animals find themselves traveling together through their new reality.

This is less of a story and more of a mural in motion. As a fluid piece of art, it's rather enjoyable.

B

That Christmas (2024)

There's way too much going on here. We've got a lonely kid dealing with a fresh divorce and his sad/overworked mom who isn't shy about making sure her son is aware that his dad ran away with a 25-year old. There's a guy getting married on Christmas eve to a woman with a bunch of kids (I think? Maybe they weren't all hers), but anyway the kids aren't invited to the wedding for some reason. We've also got twins, one of whom is an anxiety-ridden goody-goody and the other who's a troublemaking "look at me"-type. And the lighthouse-keeper's mom is dying in a nursing home and the mean teacher is secretly grieving. Meanwhile, Santa's figuring out the best gifts for them all while his single reindeer complains.

My son recommended this to us as "good for a sweet cry," but the only thing I could find worth crying about here was the wasted time and movies that didn't get made because talented artists were busy making this crappy jumble. If the focus had simply been tightened to be on the twins and giving the revelations there a chance to breathe, this could've been something worthy of my tears.

D

Wish (2023)

The story: there's a land created by a powerful wizard. When residents turn 18, they "give" their greatest wish to the king (forgetting what it was in the process, which makes them a little less "them"). Then, periodically, he gathers everyone together and grants one of the wishes in a kind of wish lottery -- only there's no chance about it as he's deciding which are safe to grant, i.e. which have no possibility of challenging his authority. Asha, the resident spunky not-yet-18 girl, wishes on a star and the star comes out of the sky to help, which pisses off the wizard because he's got a monopoly on magic. There's way more story and it only gets more convoluted. What child could understand the plot? What non-child would want to watch this? Who the hell is this movie for?

Generally, the songs would be the saving grace in this type of head-scratching animated movie but that's not the case here. They're unnecessarily complex and Dubose makes sure the phrasing isn't easy to sing along with (even if the lyrics were more easily accessible). It's just such a messy bore.

D

Disenchanted (2022)

The idea of exploring what happens on the other side of "Happily Ever After" is a great one. But though Amy Adams as Giselle is still a delight, not much else works here. 

The brilliance of the original film was that a fairy tale princess remains herself even when removed from her original world. Somehow, this film forgets that formula entirely and has people from the "real" world transform when put into a different reality. What a shame.

C

Elemental (2023)

Ember and Wade meet and -- though they're a danger to each other -- they're also drawn to each other. Ember's got some rage issues and some drama with her working-class parents and their expectation that she will take over their store some day. Wade, in contrast, seems to be a rich kid whose parents coddle him. Pretty big topics for an animated movie. 

This is, I'm guessing, supposed to be some kind of Romeo & Juliet anti-racism thing, but it feels tortured. Human bias against others of their species is purely prejudice: the only danger in dating outside one's race is societal. But in Element City the danger is very real: Wade can extinguish Ember while Ember can evaporate Wade. That's not something beings should just look past. And Ember's short fuse isn't cute or forgivable just because it's a symptom of her reluctance to be a shopkeeper. This whole elements-as-characters thing should've died before it got going.

Really beautiful animation, though.

C

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023)

Vibrantly animated, but it feels like it's just a "connector" movie that couldn't possibly stand on its own. I am excited to see the next one since the ending of this one got my mind racing, but it was only racing because of the possibilities I could imagine rather than anything that was actually in this movie. I also have no idea why it had to be so long -- at least 40 minutes too long.

C+

Isle of Dogs (2018)

After sickness sweeps through the canine population, Japan banishes all dogs to Trash Island. The Mayor's young ward sets off on his own to find his dog and winds up getting help from one of the packs that has formed there.

It's got a great look and is mostly engaging, but felt very repetitive.

C+

Aladdin (1992)

I saw this when it first came out and my boys watched it a few times on VHS when they were kids, but it never really stuck with me. Though I enjoyed it more this time around, a key piece of Gene Siskel's original review kept going through my mind. It was something like "It should've been called 'Genie'" and he got that exactly right. Without Robin Williams' brilliant voice work, this would be just another one of Disney's "sad princess needs rescuing" tale.

B-

Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio (2022)

Geppetto's son dies and -- in his drunken grief -- he assembles a messy doll that a benevolent spirit imbues with "life." And it's honestly terrifying. When Pinocchio was learning about the world around him I was struggling to find the fun in it and, instead, just kept thinking "burn that thing."

It's impressive animation, but it's also truly disturbing.

C

Cinderella (1950)

The songs hold up, the mice are funny, and it's lovely to look at. But the characterizations are broad and the misogyny rampant. 

One thing I hadn't caught as a child is that Cinderella is more relatable than I'd thought. She's not all "sunshine and light" doormat, she's got opinions about her abusers and is sassy under her breath. She's simply learned that it's practical to express those feelings only in private.

B

Over the Moon (2020)

After Fei Fei loses her mother, she is resistant to her father finding love again -- especially since the new lady comes with a son of her own. Fei Fei decides to build a rocket that can take her up to the moon and its goddess Chang'e, in hopes that she can convince her father that true love can last even past death.

Oof. The mythology isn't accessible to western audiences. Almost all the bits that work were done better in superior films. Want a movie about working through difficult times? Inside Out. How about one with Asian tradition? Mulan. Tell me what you want and I'll tell you a better animated movie to deliver it. 

One last note: the song lyrics are doing so much heavy lifting for the story that they'll never be universally sung. I would've assumed it'd be musical-writing 101 to let dialogue do the story-specific work while sticking with generalities for the songs. 

C-

Encanto (2021)

The story is strong. It concerns familial expectation/pressure to perform and the hurt that can cause.

The songs, however, let it down bigtime. Gary and I tried to watch this months ago and stopped literally during the first song -- it was so frenetic and wordy that it felt like too much work to catch everything.

C

The House (2022)

Three different stories, all set in the same house across different time periods. The first is a human family being gifted the house by an artist as long as they agree to live in it and give the designer free rein. The second is a mouse flipping the house and dealing with two different pest infestations. The third is a cat landlady trying to collect rent from tenants without money while her house is being jeopardized by flood waters.

All of the stories are weird, but none are any fun. The first segment is frustrating and cruel. The second segment is disgusting and sad. Though the third is the best, that's only by default because it's not very interesting.

I disliked this immensely.

D

Loving Vincent (2017)

It's all about the beautiful moving paintings that make up this film. I mean, there's nothing wrong with the story at all, but these works of art masquerading as a film are what make this worth watching. Every single image could be hung in a gallery.

I did come away thinking it's probable that Vincent didn't shoot himself and that, perhaps, it was a conscious decision on his part to allow his injury to end his life. But, again, the story is absolutely secondary.

B

Turning Red (2022)

Meilin is about as straight-arrow as an 8th-grader can get. Her mother is about as controlling as a parent can get. But Mei is going through puberty which -- for women in her family -- means more than the usual period/acne/boys. When Mei's emotions take over, she transforms into a giant red panda.

It took awhile to get into this movie's groove, but it was a fun ride once we did. Though I can't see this becoming a classic, the message of surrounding oneself with committed friends while also honoring one's heritage was strong.

B-

Lightyear (2022)

When fleeing a hostile planet, Buzz refuses help and winds up damaging his ship and the crucial part that allows hyper speed to be reached. This error strands more than a thousand people on a planet hostile to humans, so Buzz makes it his mission to correct his mistake. The problem is, each attempt pushes him 4 years into the future so that everyone ages around him while he remains the same.

Convoluted, boring, and fails to effectively provide emotional connection to the characters. Robot kitty is cute, though.

C

Kubo and the Two Strings (2016)

Before it had even really begun -- right after the first words "If you must blink, do it now" were uttered -- I said to Gary "I already love it." I was crying within 10 minutes and enraptured throughout. It's just a beautifully constructed story with just the right amount of humor and compassion. 

My only critique is that Charlize Theron's voice work took me out of it both for its recognizability and her unnecessary notes of annoyance before her true identity is revealed.

A-